To date, a navigation device has been known that is provided with a database for various kinds of facilities belonging to various kinds of genres and has a neighborhood search function in which, with regard to a designated genre, facilities in the vicinity of the current position are listed up and displayed (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-264083). In the navigation device, when a menu key is depressed, a main menu and a submenu are displayed; when “search” is selected from the main menu, “neighboring facilities” is selected from the submenu, and a desired genre is selected, a facility search with respect to the current position is implemented. In implementing the facility search, facilities, belonging to the genre, that exist within a predetermined area with respect to the current position are listed up in order of increasing distance from the current position and displayed along with the respective distances between the current position and the facilities and the respective orientations of the facilities with respect to the current position.
However, with the conventional technique described above, the operation of making selection from a plurality of menus is required to be implemented two or more times before the search is carried out. In addition, facilities existing within the predetermined area with respect to the current position are displayed along with the respective distances between the facilities and the current position and the respective orientations of the facilities with respect to the current position; therefore, it is necessary to infer the positions of the facilities, based on the respective distances between the facilities and the current position and the respective orientations of the facilities with respect to the current position. Additionally, because the neighborhood search is carried out within the predetermined area with respect to the current position, the positional range in which the search is carried out cannot arbitrarily be set in accordance with the geography, such as roads, rivers, and topography, of the vicinity.
In consideration of the foregoing problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a facility-search technique that enables easier operation and a high degree of freedom.